Applying The Laws of Adult Learning (Part 1)

My sincere apologies for the long silence due to work and personal commitment. Anyway, it is good to be back.

In the previous 2 postings, we have discussed the laws of adult learning. Today, let us discuss how to apply them in real class room or training room situation. I have been applying the laws since day 1 of becoming a professional trainer. They helped me to create a safe, conducive and interactive sessions. 

So, how to apply the laws?

1. Law of the Big Picture - We need to provide adults learners with an overview of the lessons to be learned at the early part of the session as this will help them seeing the big picture of the content.

2. Law of Application - We need to help adults learners 'see' how the content can be used and applied in their work to help them better understand and stay interested in the learning process.

3. Law of Repetition - Repetition is the mother of all learning. Master Trainer, Bob Pike used to say that we need to revisit key learning points at least 6 times in a 1 day session. Through repetition, adults learners will be able to remember key learning points a long time thus increasing the chances they will apply them.

4. Law of Fun - Trainers need to create a fun learning environment where learners feel safe to interact with the trainers, materials and one another. using stories, games and other interactive methods will greatly enhance learning.

5. Law of Sequence - To help adult learners follow the session, trainers need to sequence their content in a logical manner with small chunks of delivery at one time. Personally, I use the 90/20/6 Rule created by Bob Pike ie 90 minute session (max) at a stretch, lecture for 20 minutes per block and get them moving every 6 minutes (via Q&A, discussion, etc).

6. Law of Interaction - Adults bring tons of experience in training rooms and good trainers know how to tap into these. Allow them to interact with one another using case studies, role plays, presentations, small group activities and others.

7. Law of Intervals - Bob Pike advised that for adults, 90 minutes of learning at one stretch is the max. Allow them time to absorb key learning points and interact with others. For me personally, for 1 hour of session, I give them 10 minutes of break to absorb, interact and refresh themselves.

In part 2, we will discuss how to apply the remaining laws of adult learning.          

The Laws of Learning (Part 2)

In part 1 last January, we learned about the laws of adult learning that can help us to plan and conduct impactful sessions with our adult learners. Today, let us explore some more adult learning laws to help us become a better trainer.

1. The Law of Experience

Adults learn best if we can relate and tap their experience in the learning process. Adults bring vast and rich experience into the class and we as trainers need to capitalize on this.

2. The Law of Whole Brain Communication

When presenting adult learning sessions, we need to tap on both the left brain and the right one. Left brain which focuses on logic and right brain on feelings, intuition and creativity can help adults learn better if trainers are able to tap on them.

3. The Law of Whole Senses

There are 3 main ways adults receive information when learning namely, via visual, auditory and kinesthetic. Trainer need to use all these senses to create rich learning experience for adults.

4. The Law of Forgetting

After 30 days, adult will forget 90% of what they have learned (based on Prof Ebbinghaus's research). As trainers, we need to take this into consideration when designing training material and activities.

5. The Laws of Familiarity

In presenting adult learning, trainers need to relate the content to things that learners are familiar of. As such, it is important for trainers to know the background of learners such as education, socio-economy, language and others.

6. The Laws of Safety

Activities designed by trainers need to be comfortable and 'safe' for adult learners to perform. Issues such as learners' readiness, suitability of activities against gender and religious background need to be considered as well.

7. The Law of Recall

Trainers need to design and deliver training materials that are easy for adult learners to understand and remember. Several tools can be used to achieve this.

In our next discussion, we will discuss how to apply these rules to make our session an impactful ones. 

   

The Laws of Learning (Part 1)

As a trainer that involves in adult learning, I have formulated several 'laws' that helped me to plan, prepare and deliver my sessions. Some of them are mentioned by the father of adult learning, Malcolm Knowles in his Adult Learning Theory (or better known as Androgogy). Maybe they can be of help to you too.

1. The Law of the Big Picture : Learners need to be informed of the overview of the session. This needs to be done at the early stage to provide an overall map of the lessons.

2. The Law of Application : As trainers, we need to emphasize how the things being taught can be applied in real life situation. Adult learners like to link their current learning with their real work.

3. The Law of Repetition : Adult learners learn by repetition. As trainers we need to constantly revisit previous lesson or key ideas to help adult learners remember them. This can be done by strategically plan short, interactive revision sessions in between modules.

4. The Law of Fun : Fun is a powerful tool to deliver learning. Fun is not funny. Fun here means that learners are interested to discover and discuss learning points with one another. When learners have fun, they are more open to learning and interaction with one another.

5. The Law of Sequence : Learning materials and learning presentations need to have logical sequence. Opening, body and closing are the common sequence when preparing and delivering lessons to adults. This help learners to grasp the concepts and application better.

6. The Law of Interaction : In preparing and delivering learning sessions, learners need to interact with the trainers, the materials and one another. Activities such as interactive lectures with Q&A, writing of notes and discussion are examples of application of this law.

7. The Law of Intervals : Latest research in learning suggests that adults can concentrate on one sitting of learning for no more than 90 minutes. As such, when designing and delivering modules, we need to ensure each session is less than 90 minutes long.

In part 2, we shall continue with several more Laws of Learning and how to apply them to make our sessions more impactful especially to our adult learners.        

Year End Goal Setting Self Coaching Questions

It's the time of the year again where people reflect on what they have achieved the rest of the year. Some reactions include regret (Why didn't I do it?), satisfaction (Thank God I quit that job!), shock (What? Year end already?) and ignorance (I don't need goals to be successful!).

To make personal and professional changes and move one step closer to having your dreams fulfilled, personal reflection is needed. It's like driving a car and looking at the rear view mirror to make sure all is safe and we are on the right track.

One of the most powerful tools to do the above is Self Coaching. Coaching is basically asking powerful questions that make people reflect on their problems or issues and come up with their own solutions. It creates empowerment. Coaching can be done one to one, group or on self.

Below are some powerful coaching questions that can be asked for self reflection (for goal setting);

1. What is the purpose of my life?
2. What makes me happy and fulfilled?
3. What are my strength?
4. How can I use my strength and achieve fulfillment?
5. What are my weaknesses?
6. How will my weaknesses prevent me from achieving my goals?
7. What can I do to control or manage my weaknesses?
8. What do I want to achieve next year?
9. How will I achieve my new year goals?
10. What possible barriers that prevent me from achieving my goals?
11. What can I do to remove or manage the barriers?
12. Who do I need to bring to achieve my goals?
13. How do I measure my progress in term of my new year goals?
14. What makes the goals important to me?
15. What have I achieved so far in my life? this year?
16. Am I happy with my progress? 
17. How can I make myself happier?
18. What kind of system do I need to put in place to help me achieve my goals?
19. How will I reward myself once I achieve my goals?
20. What changes do I need to make to get closer to my goals?

All the best in your year end reflection and may you achieve your goals in 2015.        

Asking Coaching Questions Using GROW Model

As mentioned in the previous article, coaching is one of the tools that leaders can use to improve productivity, increase performance and boost morale. One of the most popular coaching model used by many coaches around the world is the GROW  model.

In this conversation model, a coach asks questions that explore the coachee's Goal, Reality of current situation, Options for improvement and Will to do them.

Let us look at some of the questions that a coach can ask using this GROW  model;

Goal questions

1. What do you want to achieve in life?
2. What is your career goal?
3. What do you want to achieve x years from now?
4. Where do you see yourself 3 years from now in this organization?
5. Which area in your job that you want to improve?
6. What do you want to discuss in our coaching session today?

Reality questions

1. Where are you now relative to your career goal?
2. What aspects of your job that give you the greatest pleasure?
3. Which areas in your job that you want to improve?
4. What makes you happy and fulfilled?
5. What have you achieved so far in your career? life? finance? etc

Options questions

1. What are you planning to do to achieve your goals?
2. What actions will you take to improve yourself?
3. What kind of support do you need to move you closer to your goals?
4. When are you planning to implement your plan?
5. How do you measure your success in moving towards your goals?
6. What new skills, knowledge or attitude that you need to have to move you closer to your goals?

Will questions

1. On a scale of 1 to 10, how motivated are you to achieve your goals?
2. What are the possible challenges that you will face to move towards your goals?
3. How will you overcome the challenges? What is your plan?
4. On an emotional level, what emotions can prevent you from achieving your goals? How will you manage them?
5. How will you motivate your self to stay focus on your goals?
6. How will you reward your self when you achieve the milestones in moving toward your goals?

These are some possible questions that can be asked when coaching using this model. You can create your own questions to be asked as well. Don't limit yourself to the ones above. 

Even though the model provides a step by step guide, in real coaching session, things will not go as smoothly as in the model. A good coach knows when to move forward with the questions or stay on the questions until the coachee is clear with what he wants or when to backtrack and go to the previous steps. The key is to stay flexible and sensitive to the need of the coachee.

Try the questions in your coaching session today and you will see the results in your coachee. 

Coaching Using GROW Model

In the previous 2 articles, we discussed about the meaning of coaching and characteristics of a good coach and coachee. Once we understand the meaning of coaching and selected our coach and coachee, now comes the most critical part.

Coaching is using the Socratic method of 'teaching'. I used the term 'teaching' in a loose manner. In coaching, the coach 'teaches' (or guides) his coachee by making him reflect on his current situation, his goals and ways to get there by asking questions. 

This is powerful in empowering the coachee because it makes him reflect and comes up with his own solutions. Nobody understands his own problem other than himself. As such, by asking powerful questions, a coach guides his coachee to find the solutions. The coach acts as a mirror where the coachee reflects on himself.

The most common model used in coaching is the 4-step questioning technique known as GROW. Below are the details of each steps;

1. Goal - The first step is to determine the goal, short term and long term, of the coaching session. This is important as it determines the final outcome to be achieved by the coaching session. It sets the 'mood', approach and time frame of the session.

2. Reality - In this step, the coach asks questions to enable coachee to determine his current situation in perspective of his goals in step 1. Some common issues explored include present performance, challenges, motives and others.

3. Options - Next, after determining goal and current situation, coach explores, with coachee the possible solutions to achive the pre-determined goals. Possible obstacles, resources, emotional response, action plans, etc are explored.

4. Will and Wrap Up - Lastly, detailed plan is formulated and the coach asks questions to explore commitment, time frame, support structure, etc to ensure the plan is actionable. Here, both coach and coachee will agree on the next meeting to discuss progress.

In our next article, we will discuss questions to be asked at each step of the GROW Model.        

Improving Performance Through Coaching (Part 2)

As we have discussed earlier, coaching is one of performance improvement tools that leaders can use to make positive changes in the workplace. However, not everybody can be can be a coach or coachee. As the coaching process involves long term commitment, patience and good interpersonal skills, selection of coach and coachee needs to be done carefully. 

Generally, characteristics of good and effective coach include;

1. Possess good communication skills especially listening and asking great questions.
2. Formally trained and well verse in the coaching principles and processes.
3. Patient and committed.
4. Believe in human potentials.
5. Strive on challenges.
6. Flexible but firm.
7. Able to feel empathy without personally attached to it.
8. Withhold judgments.
9. Not imposing his values, beliefs and knowledge on coachee.
10. Able to think on his feet and adapt.   

To select a coachee, we need to consider characteristics such as;

1. Committed in term of time and other resources.
2. Doer of planned actions.
3. Willingness to change and improve.
4. Curious.
5. Positive learning attitude.
6. Good listener
7. Humble.
8. Having an open mind.
9. Willing to share personal experiences.
10. Accepting own strength and weaknesses.

In the next article, we will discuss the step by step process of coaching.